Adventurous and Sustainable Eating

The Perennial Plate

When we had our NYC event last year at Prune, Gabrielle Hamilton said I had a “style” of cooking, appartently it involved lime juice and herbs. Its true, and maybe some fish sauce. That’s Vietnamese cooking I guess. Anyways, here’s another example of such a style, and of using what is available. I happened to have eggplant and cabbage… what do you make with that? Salad of course. Roasted eggplant is amazing at room temperature, tossed with some sort of dressing, it maintains its texture while soaking up the sauce. Also, just having a bunch of condiments at your house, makes it a lot easier to make a tasty dinner in a pinch. These are all Asian condiments, some of which contain corn syrup and msg, but they taste good.

Roasted Eggplant

2 japanese eggplant, sliced 1/3 inch thick

sesame oil

chili powder

black pepper

hoison sauce

soy sauce

Oil a sheet pan and head the oven to 450. Toss all the ingredients together in a bowl. I didn’t give any quantities because its litterally a splash of this and a dash of that. Pretty much equal parts soy, hoison and sesame. Then, lots of black pepper and however much chili you feel comfortable with. Make sure each piece of eggplant is coated. Lay the slices flat on the sheet pan and roast in the oven for 45 minutes. They should have shrunk dramatically and have a little caramalization. They will taste nice and sweet.

Sauce:

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1/2 a lime – 1 Tablespoon

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon maple syrup

Chop up a half a head of cabbage, and a bunch of basil and mix all the ingredients together. Wa-lah! Oh yeah, add some Sriracha on top!